Baltimore announces four new conductors

Marin Alsop’s team has just grown wings.

Markus Stenz is named BSO Principal Guest Conductor;
Ken Lam is BSO Associate Conductor for Education and Artistic Director of the Baltimore Symphony Youth Orchestras; 
Nicholas Hersh is BSO Assistant Conductor; 
Michael Repper is appointed 2014-2015 BSO-Peabody Conducting Fellow.

Extract below from interminable press release (is it agents who write these things?).

Baltimore, Md. (July 9, 2014) – The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is pleased to announce several conducting appointments: Markus Stenz as principal guest conductor, Ken Lam as associate conductor for education, Nicholas Hersh as assistant conductor and Michael Repper asthe 2014-2015 season BSO-Peabody conducting fellow. 

Acclaimed German conductor Markus Stenz will begin his three-year tenure as principal guest conductor with the BSO in the 2015-2016 season. He will conduct three weeks each season. Stenz made his BSO debut in October 2012 to great critical acclaim, prompting Baltimore Sun Classical Music Critic Tim Smith to say of hisperformance: “Stenz made a thrice-familiar score newly gripping — this should be every musician’s goal each time at bat, but it just doesn’t work out that way very often — and he clearly bonded with the BSO. The players had an on-the-edge-of-their-seats look you don’t see from them too often onstage (they applauded Stenz as heartily as the audience after the performance). Each section revealed solid strengths; even the subtlest solos emerged with vivid personality.”

Music Director Marin Alsop, who begins a new six-year contract with the BSO in the 2015-16 season, said of Stenz’s appointment: “I’m delighted to be joined by long-time friend and colleague, Markus Stenz. We met when we were conducting fellows at Tanglewood in 1989 under Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa and Gustav Meier. When Markus debuted with the BSO, he immediately struck a rapport with our musicians, and they were as enthusiastic as I about creating a position that would bring him to Baltimore on a regular basis. With his wide-ranging experience as a symphonic and opera conductor, and his broad musical reach, Markus will be an outstanding addition to our artistic team. I look forward to our audiences and musicians connecting with him over the next three seasons.”